Cameronbridge 42 Years Old 1979 Cask #3952 (Duncan Taylor)

From Duncan Taylor comes this Cameronbridge, a 42 year old release distilled in 1979, from cask 3952 and bottled at 45.3%. Just 305 bottles were filled. Set in Fife, Cameronbridge has made grain whisky since 1824, the oldest plant of its kind in Scotland. A founding member of the Distillers Company in 1877, it is now Diageo's largest distillery.

Distilled continuously in column stills from wheat, on Loch Leven water, giving a clean, mellow grain whisky. Ex-Bourbon casks held the grain, soft oak that drives the sweetness. At this age it is rich and waxy, the sweet grain folded into a buttery, oily body. Grain whisky like this rewards long maturation, the wood adding most of the character. John Haig's cousin Robert Stein invented the continuous still, and Cameronbridge was among the first to run one. The Haig distilling dynasty traces its roots in Scottish whisky back to the 1600s. The distillery sits at Windygates in the Kingdom of Fife, near the River Leven.

Reduced to 45.3%, it is mellow. The ex-Bourbon gives a sweet, oily vanilla. Beneath it run coconut, vanilla and a soft oil. The close is soft, dessert sweet over oak. This is Cameronbridge's light, sweet single grain.